FRENCH REACTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 13

FRENCH REACTION

AGREEMENT WITH ITALY FREE HAND NOT GIVEN ROME PAPER ASSAILS BRITAIN By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON. Feb. 20 Apart from the mystification as to how the secret, unpublished British official document—the Maffey report—got into Italian hands, there is at least this satisfaction from the British point of view, namely, that it substantiates Britain's claim to disinterestedness in supporting the League Covenant in the explicit declaration of Clause 2. In this connection the Rome correspondents of tho Manchester Guardian and the Times both say there is a strong view in British quarters in Rome that it establishes beyond doubt Britain's complete sincerity of action at Geneva. The Morning Post and the Guardian both mention French discomfiture at the reference in the report •to a "secret Franco - Italian agreement reached at the beginning of January, 1935, regarding Ethiopia." French circles reafSrm that there is no agreement of the kind giving Italy a free hand. It is suggested that this obviously refers to Signor Mussolini's assurance to France of the safety of the Jibouti railway. The Morning Post's Rome correspondent says the argument in the British report has been emphasised in such a way as to make it appear that Britain had full knowledge of Italy's intentions, and was in accord with the Italian arguments and ambitions for extensive zones in Ethiopia. What little official comment is obtainable in London denies such accord. It is emphasised that the report preceded the League's naming of Italy as the aggressor and had no relation to the duties of Britain as a member of the League. The Rome newspaper II Popolo d'ltalia says: "The flimsy contention that the British attitude was intended to support the League has now definitely crumbled. The truth is that the result of Britain's policy is simply disastrous. She has put the world in a turmoil and God knows when the waters will be stilled.

"Does it pay Britain," the newspaper asks, "to persist in this obstinacy when there are arguments like the armies of Marshal Badoglio and General Graziani ? We can afford the luxury of advising her to revise her attitude and of quoting for Britain's notice the Latin proverb that 'it is human to err but devilish to persist in error.' "